Secret Santa
by blackbeltchic
Summary: COMPLETE- Buffy keeps getting gifts in a mysterious way.


Title: Secret Santa  
  
Author: Blackbeltchic  
  
Summery: SHH! It's a secret! If I told you, then it wouldn't be secret, now would it?  
  
Disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING!!!! LEAVE ME ALONE!! I'm NOT DOING ANYTHING WRONG! GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!!  
  
Setting: season four (Buffy) until.. Four or five years after season seven. The cold's getting to my brains. Can't think straight.  
  
But when did I ever?  
  
Start:  
  
The door bell rang, 11:59, Christmas Eve. Buffy had just gotten home from patrolling, and she went to answer the door. She found nobody there, yet a small wrapped box lay on the doorstep. Checking the tag, it proclaimed: Don't open until Christmas!  
  
She went back inside, and checked the clock. 12:01. It was Christmas. She carefully unwrapped the delicate paper, and opened the box. Within, there was a cross. Gold. She smiled, and put it on.  
  
He stood outside on the porch, watching her. He saw her smile, and knew she was pleased with his gift. He had also known she couldn't wait until daylight to open it. He had been counting on that. He gifted her with a rare smile, one that she didn't see, and walked off into the night.  
  
She went up to bed. Riley, Willow, Xander and Giles were coming over for Christmas the next morning.  
  
Christmas Eve. 11:58. The door bell rang.  
  
"I'll get it!" the youngest Summer's called.  
  
"Why are you still up?" Her older sister asked.  
  
"It's Christmas Eve!" She replied. She opened the door, to find the porch empty, except for a medium sized box, wrapped in green tissue paper. She picked it up. Heavy. She read the tag. "Buffy! It's for you!"  
  
"Who is it?" her sister asked, coming to the door. She saw the gift.  
  
"Who's it from?" Dawn asked.  
  
"I don't know." She fingered the delicate gold cross she had gotten last year in the same way. She had first thought it had been from Riley, but he was in South America now. Had been for two weeks. No way he could be dropping presents on her doorstep.  
  
"Well, open it!" She pointed out the tag to her sister. Do not open until Christmas. "Oh." She then looked at the clock. "12:02! Open it!"  
  
In the shadows, he half smiled at the younger girl's enthusiasm.  
  
Buffy slowly took of the tissue paper, folding it and putting it inside on the hall table for later use. She used her nails to split the tape holding the box closed, and opened it. She pulled out a crossbow.  
  
"Spiffy." Dawn said, now bored that the present was slayer related.  
  
Buffy gave her a glare. "Shouldn't you be in bed? Just because it's Christmas Eve, doesn't mean you can stay up late. What about Santa?"  
  
"Pulease! I'm 15. Teenager's don't believe in Santa Claus."  
  
"When did you grow up so fast, Dawnie?" She murmured, playing with a lock of her sister's hair. "Go on up to bed. It's late, and Willow, Tara, Giles, Xander and Anya are coming over tomorrow morning."  
  
"Ok." She sighed.  
  
"Night." She smiled at her sister. She wasn't always a pain. Just most of the time. After Dawn had gone upstairs, she took a look around outside, one last time, to see if she could see her mysterious gift giver, then closed the door.  
  
Standing outside in the dark, cold night, he watched as one by one, the downstairs, and then the upstairs lights went out. The cold had never really bothered him. Only the coldness that he got from not being with her. He pulled his trench coat closer around him, as if somehow it could ward off the coldness of his unbeating heart, and walked away.  
  
Christmas Eve. 11:32. The doorbell rang.  
  
"Spike, will you get that?" Dawn asked. She was in the kitchen, trying to bake a surprise for Buffy. Their mom always had Christmas Cookies.  
  
"Sure, bit." He opened the door, to find no one there. "There's no one there." He called.  
  
"Oh!" She said, rushing in, wiping her hands on her pajama bottoms, fuzzy snowmen. "This happened last Christmas too." She looked at the clock, " He's early." She looked around for the present. But there was only a card. "That's weird."  
  
"What?" He asked as she picked it up.  
  
"It was a gift last year. New crossbow. Oh well." She looked at the envelope, and saw the same scrawl: Don't open until Christmas!  
  
She set it on the hall table, and looked around outside once more. Nobody, but then she didn't expect anybody.  
  
"Buffy will be home soon, and then we can find out what's in it." She said, walking back towards the kitchen. "Close the door?" He was staring off into space. "Spike?" He shook himself. "Yeah, niblet?"  
  
"Close the door?"  
  
"Oh, yeah."  
  
When Buffy got home that night, Dawn handed her the envelope.  
  
"oh, goody." She said, opening the envelope, though not really into the Christmas Spirit. It was a letter.  
  
Buffy, I am sorry about all you have been through. I hope that you can find it within yourself to make it through this trying time. I am always here to talk, if you need someone to just listen.  
  
I love you.  
  
She looked on the back, and couldn't find anything to give her a hint to who sent it. She tucked it back into the envelope, and set it on the banister. "Dawn, it's late. You should go to bed." She said, smiling at her sister. Dawn huffed and went upstairs. "Thanks for staying with her, Spike. You can let yourself out?" He nodded and grabbed his duster. She watched him go, hoping to find her mystery gift giver. She had a feeling that whoever he was, he was near by.  
  
The house was in uproars. It was Christmas, and only about half the girls celebrated Christmas, but all Buffy wanted was some PEACE AND QUIET!  
  
At 11:25, the doorbell rang, and she went to open it before anybody else did. Her nerves were shot.  
  
On the doorstep, was an envelope, again. She looked for the "do not open till Christmas," but it was nowhere to be found. She opened it up, and found a gift certificate inside.  
  
"Treat yourself right." A hand written note read. The certificate was for a day spa in L.A. It was for a mud rap, and a facial, and a manicure, and a pedicure, as well as other spa-ly treats.  
  
"Wow." She murmured, looking outside, trying to find the person who was giving her these gifts. Of course, she found no one, but had the feeling that she was being watched. But not the creepy feeling, it was sorta nice and tingly. She looked one last time, before closing the door, saving the neighbors from the ungodly racket.  
  
Once they blew up the hell mouth, they transferred to Cleveland, well, the girls did, while Buffy and Dawn were off to Europe. Both couldn't wait to have bathrooms of their own again.  
  
Buffy didn't get any more mysterious Christmas gifts until she returned to the States, about Four years after Spike's death, and the destruction of "Sunnyhell."  
  
She stepped back onto American soil, five days before Christmas. "It's so good to be home." She said to Dawn, as she hugged her sister. She had opted to go to college in the States, rather than be left in some foreign country as Buffy traveled without her.  
  
"Come on, my apartment isn't that far away." She said, as she led Buffy to her car.  
  
"Wow, a car, Dawn, you've really grown up. You look awesome." She said.  
  
"So do you. I've missed you so much."  
  
"So, how's college life?" Buffy asked, as Dawn started the car and drove off.  
  
He watched them enter the building from across the street. Just four days until he could reveal himself.  
  
The next four days were filled with last minute Christmas Shopping in the city that never slept; the Big Apple, New York City. They also visited Ground Zero, where Buffy paid her respects. She knew how it felt to be the one left behind, as well as to leave others behind, and she was very sympathetic to both the survivors and the ones who lost their lives.  
  
Her nights were filled with patrolling. Just because the city never slept didn't mean there weren't vampires around. She hit clubs and bars, occasionally indulging in just a little too much to drink; some might call it wallowing in her despair. He was always right there with her, without her knowing, of course, and always made sure when she passed out at the bar, she got home safely.  
  
The doorbell rang at exactly midnight, between Christmas Eve, and Christmas day. After not getting a present for four years, she wasn't expecting it, and stumbled to the door, after having just a bit too much eggnog.  
  
There was just the simple envelope, and once she opened it, she read what it said.  
  
"Go down into the lobby. Take the stairs. Your present awaits you there."  
  
She followed the instructions and left the stairwell five minutes later. As she looked around the deserted, airy room, a figure stepped out of the shadows.  
  
"Who is it?" She called.  
  
"Your Secret Santa." She gasped, knowing the voice.  
  
"It was you, all along?"  
  
"I couldn't help myself. I tried to get you something, all those years you were in Europe, but you are a very hard person to track down."  
  
"If I had known-"  
  
"It's in the past now."  
  
"You're note said- my present was down here?" She looked around, not wanting to believe. "You?" she asked, unsure.  
  
He smiled and nodded.  
  
"But-how?"  
  
"First I got control of a Law Firm, Wolfram and Hart. Then a prophecy from awhile ago fell back into my lap, and it came true, about three months ago."  
  
"And that prophecy was?"  
  
"That if I saved the world, from THE apocalypse, then I would be forgiven of sin, and I would return to my . . . I would become human." She gasped. "I'm not messing with you, Buffy. I've been waiting for this for so long." He took a step closer, and took a deep breath, no longer a formality.  
  
"Do you remember, that Thanksgiving, that you visited. And the demon I killed; smashed the jewel on his forehead?" She nodded. "I knew that because it was a.time loop. What really happened, was that we fought the demon. We went after it. It went up into the sunlight, or so we thought. I found it later, and after getting slashed, some of its blood got into my system. The blood had regenerative properties. It made me human. But it also told me, before you killed it, that it was just the first, and they could not be stopped. We shared one . . . glorious day together. But then I went to the Oracle. And they told me it was true. Dark times were coming. And me, as a man, no longer strong, could do nothing to stop it, and without me, fighting by your side, you would die.  
  
"I asked them to let me redo the day, before anything had ever happened. Before I became human, before we . . . only I would remember. And I've lived with that memory ever since. And through the darkest times, it kept me going. I knew that one day, I would reach that dream, of becoming human, and you'd be there, waiting."  
  
"But then Riley, and Spike. . . ." She trailed off.  
  
"That's why I was so jealous. I was so close. And you were with. . . Spike." He spat the name. "It tortured me. I loved you so much, and you were with him. . . ."  
  
"I never loved him. I thought I did, but. . . "S he shook her head, unable to continue. "Is this my gift? Confusion? Turmoil?" she cried.  
  
"No. You gift is this." He passed her another envelope. She opened it to reveal block letters, asking: "Are you still Cookie dough?"  
  
She laughed hysterically. She couldn't take it. It was all so much: Just too much.  
  
"Angel . . . . . " She trailed off. "I just. . . . It's too. . . . I can't. . . ."  
  
"It's ok. Think about it. Mull it over. I'm just across the street. If you ever need me. . . . " He handed her a card. "It was great seeing you again, Buffy."  
  
"Yeah." She nodded, turning and going back to the apartment.  
  
The next day, she asked him to meet her in Central Park, by the fountain. He was there when she showed up.  
  
"Angel . . . Hi." She said, then she sighed. "Ok, here's what's going through my mind. How could you have kept that from me? The whole us thing? Didn't you think I had a right to know? Since it was about me?"  
  
"But it never happened. Time was reversed, and it was if nothing had ever happened."  
  
"But you still remembered." She accused.  
  
"Buffy, I don't know what I can do to make it up to you. I told you about that, to show you that we could be together. I am human, and nothing will get in our way, in my way of making you happy. All I want for you is happiness. And if that means . . . Me disappearing off the face of this earth, then so be it. I am in love with you, and all I want is you to be happy."  
  
"How can I be happy, being with you? Remembering what we had? Thinking about what we could have had, if you had never left me?"  
  
"Fine. Then I'll go."  
  
"NO! Don't you dare leave me again!" She cried.  
  
"But then-" She interrupted him by rushing over and kissing him. Her mind was in uproar, confused and scared, but her heart knew just what to do, to say, to make everything right.  
  
"I love you." She whispered.  
  
"Merry Christmas." He whispered back to her.  
  
*end*(?) 


End file.
